Chapter 27

  An Abyss Of Wrathful Violence

  The sounds of battle echoed down the narrow tunnel: thunder, shouts of exertion, cries of pain, and according to Kath, the sound of ‘more skitterbugs than we should be moving toward.’

  However, even if that was accurate, and Nik did trust Kath, there was already someone fighting against their quarry. Someone who might need their help, at least based on the voices he could hear growing louder as they closed in on their source.

  Each of the goblins in their line held a shield and spear in their hands as they moved along, save for Worik in the rear, who had the supply cart strapped to his shoulders and held a torch in place of a shield. The side path they traveled down was little more than a crevice that ran through some of the carved roads that threaded between the goblin burrows. In the tight confines of this space, something else came toward them.

  Black chitin, carried on more legs than he could quickly count, leapt at him. He shoved his spear through a mandible-flanked maw. As the momentum of the beast carried on in his direction, so did its stinger.

  In a last instinctual act, the beast had tried striking him with its venomous barb. Had he not been warned multiple times of that danger, he might not have stepped aside in time.

  The dead weight of the slain skitterbug thudded hard against Stics’ shield.

  “Tower, this creature is even larger than the bramblestag beetles, maybe the chimpanther, too,” Nik said, looking back at the creature he’d just killed.

  He thought, That stinger came close. Lord Cril had no healers to spare after the rumble. So, we need to be very careful about wounds that might stick around. I don’t know if my Regeneration would be enough to counteract it, but none of my friends have even that.

  “Everyone, remember to keep an eye on their stingers. I don’t want to lose anyone to a wound that we can’t simply bandage,” he commanded.

  As they each stated their understanding of his command, an XP notification announced how much he and his party members had gained. Twenty-five points for me and twenty for each of my party members? I really could make them stronger, even when I take an enemy down by myself, he thought.

  The moment of analysis was cut short by a second and third monster coming toward them. He ducked low, shield up, knocking the leading bug overhead into the multiple spears of his party members. They struck in a somewhat staggered joint effort. The timing wasn’t perfect, but they took the beast down.

  The following insect belonged to Nik. A black spear shot up from below his shield and pressed the skitterbug into the ceiling before breaking through the chitin armored thorax. With the bug’s body sliding down the shaft of his spear, he once again had to step aside as it fell.

  With his foot on its back, he pulled the remaining length of the wooden pole from his slain enemy.

  Looking at the next set of notifications, he saw that for the skitterbug his party took out, the XP split was the same, only with him getting the lower amount. He still got XP for the enemy he’d only sent in their direction, though.

  “I think I’m really going to like having a party,” he said.

  The sounds continued to reverberate through the stone and reminded him of the group that was still fighting up ahead, breaking the excitement. Focus returned to his features, and he readied himself to move forward.

  He turned to his group, looked into each of their eyes, and said, “Hold any elemental attacks until I give the signal, and whatever you do, stick together. We act as one.”

  Every head nodded in response, including Ryan’s, and Pearl said, “As one.”

  Each member of his Lowerguard said, “As one,” in reply.

  Only three more skitterbugs came their way, attacking them on sight. They were dealt with quickly, even if it took all three goblins to kill one of them while Nik and Pearl killed the other two.

  “We’re almost to level two!” shouted Stics, and a stern look from Pearl, Kath, and Nik silenced him.

  “I should’ve also said to try not to make any more noise than necessary; that’s on me.”

  “Sorry,” Stics whispered.

  “Next level should give each of you a stat point to put wherever you want, consider where you want to grow the most and put it there as soon as it is safe after you level up.”

  The tunnel opened up into a larger one just ahead, and Nik’s hands were nearly shaking in anticipation. As excited as his friends were to get stronger, he was at the edge of leveling, too.

  Something feels different about this level. I can’t explain it, but I can feel it. Like there’s a pressure building, and the next level will let it burst. The thought terrified him, and thrilled him at the same time in equal measure.

  Rounding a small curve that snaked at the end of their path, they could see into the dimly lit tunnel that ran perpendicular to their own. It was a brutal image, absolute carnage.

  The sheer number of already slain enemies was staggering, but there were no goblins here; it was a group of adventurers fighting the skitterbugs. They were moving slowly, bodies at the edge of burnout. Even in the darkness, he could see that they were at the end of what they had left to give.

  One of the adventurers was on their knees, an enemy ready to crash down on them. There was only a moment to either act or witness their death.

  Nik moved. Just like he did the first time he saw Sir BlackDagger start to fall beneath the castle. Even if they might be a threat, he couldn’t stand by. This time, however, he wasn’t weak and helpless.

  He swung his spear, and a Wind Slice peeled off from the blade. It shot forward, cutting through an upheld limb. Before it could come down on the adventurer, the leg was severed, and Nik called out, “Take out the skitterbugs, and keep the adventurers alive!”

  They launched Wind Slices of their own and followed his lead. As he threw a spear, so did they. One more volley of Wind Slices, and ten of the bugs were dead.

  One of the adventurers ran forward to the aid of the one Nik had saved, their hands glowing with the light of a healing ability.

  Notification bells rang through the heads of Nik and his party members as the dense volume of XP gained rocketed the group past level two and all of the way to level three. Nik, however, hit level five, and he had some choices laid out before him.

  He thought, If I have to fight these adventurers, I won’t be missing whatever option I might pick.

  He rushed through the options, while he tried to keep an eye on the potential threat past the side of the floating box of text.

  Congratulations!

  Level Up!

  XP 190 of 600 to Level 6

  Mana 40 of 40

  Class Evolution Available

  Congratulations! You have unlocked class evolution options!

  Please select from the following!

  Advanced Elementalist

  Gain the ability to increase or decrease mana used to activate elemental abilities.

  Ability effects are enhanced or reduced relative to the mana spent.

  Elemental Specialist

  Gain boosted capabilities with one chosen element.

  Master Generalist

  Moderate skill growth with all weapons and armor.

  Shield Guardian

  Shields grant an aura of defense that extends beyond you, making you and nearby allies harder to strike.

  Boosted capabilities and extra shielding sound nice, but I’ve been working on going for multiple elements. Advanced Elementalist could let me boost some of my abilities, and it might also let me use Flame Blast without launching myself into a wall. He made his choice and quickly closed out the box.

  Just when he thought he’d been relatively quick, the box was replaced with one that displayed his stats and reminded him of his unallocated bonus stat. Agility was the only stat he had at level nine. Remembering his bonus from getting intelligence to level ten, he placed his free point into agility.

  Stat Level 10!

  Another double-digit stat!

  One day you might even be strong and fast enough to stop yourself from falling over.

  Bonuses Received

  Agility Level 10:

  Natural Speed Boost

  With that out of the way, he stepped forward and activated Candlelight.

  A vaguely familiar voice called out his name in excitement. Looking to the elf to whom that voice belonged, he found a familiar face that made it snap into place. Memories of cages, and whispered thanks as they escaped.

  “Beatrice?” he said, voice lilted in a questioning tone.

  Another familiar voice said, “Did I get hit in the head, or did that thing just say your name?”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Congratulations!

  Skills Up:

  Linguistics Skill Level 2

  That second familiar voice was one that he could never misplace. It belonged to the adventurer who killed a number of the goblins from the sunken castle, including the one who was closest to being a real friend.

  Nik could feel the pace of his own heartbeat rise sharply.

  With the understanding that a fight might be unavoidable, he gripped his spear and shield as he gave voice to the name of the adventurer that had forced him to flee his home. “BlackDagger…”

  There were so many emotions flooding through his system. Where once there was fear, a mixture of sadness and rage had filled that space; they threatened to send him over the edge, into an abyss of wrathful violence.

  Words that Sir BlackDagger spoke were an indiscernible background noise against the images flashing through Nik’s mind.

  Liquid mirrors of blood reflected blue torchlight in multiple rooms and halls. Wuttsit's body, forever stilled by the adventurer’s blade. The smell of blood and the terror he had felt as he collected his belongings to climb to the surface. His legs burned with exhaustion, while he continued past the bodies of BlackDagger’s victims.

  This was the man who had taken his old life away from him. The man who had forced him into a world of violence. The man who had returned to the castle desiring to deal out even more death.

  The tone of Nik’s voice carried a promise of violence, as he said, “You killed them. All of those goblins in our castle… Why?”

  Beatrice began interpreting his question, and paused only for a moment, eyes going unfocused.

  “Sorry, Linguistics level 2.”

  She shook her head and apologized again, “Ugh, sorry, not important.”

  She repeated Nik’s words to Sir BlackDagger, and Nik’s eyes narrowed as understanding of the dynamics between them dawned on him.

  They’re a party. The system I use is at least similar to theirs, if not the same. Of course they could form parties as well. The slavers were probably a party, too. Does this mean that Beatrice and Doggy are friends with this monster?

  With his ability to understand their speech increased another level, he could actually comprehend most of the killer’s response.

  “What? Seriously, what is the deal with this game? Talking mobs that can learn skills and try to make us feel guilty about killing monsters?” asked the man without having actually answered Nik’s question.

  As Beatrice started to relay BlackDagger’s words to Nik, he cut her off. Nik responded to him directly, saying, “Monsters? This isn’t a game! They were people with lives and families, jobs and dreams, and you murdered them. I should kill you now. I know you adventurers don’t stay dead, but at least it would be some amount of vengeance.”

  Beatrice stepped in front of the murderous knight in bloodied armor, and said, “I’m sorry, Nik. This is supposed to just be a game. None of you should be real, just illusions that we battle for fun.”

  “What the hell is going on here, Bea?” asked the robed man in the back.

  A light tremble coursed through Nik’s hands. “He killed them for… fun?” he asked, voice breaking as he forced the words to leave his lips.

  Her body rocked, and her voice lost any firmness it might have held before. “This isn’t supposed to be real. This whole world is meant to be a game, but everything is going sideways, Nik. You have to trust me, please. There is a king, he’s coming for you with an army of shadows. I want to help you, but there’s so much we don’t understand right now-”

  Nik cut her off, and said, “Enough. I saved you twice now, and your friend took everything from me. Everything. It wasn’t even the first time adventurers have done that to me, and I don’t have any reasons to trust you. I need something from your end, something that can earn that trust. I don’t want to be enemies, but you’re traveling with a murderer.”

  “Give us the word, and we move,” said Stics.

  Nik looked back over his shoulder to see his team ready to attack, and then there was Worik. The goblin was shaking with the bottled up rage of grief. Knowing some of his story, all of their stories, really, he couldn’t blame any of them. The same burning anger lived within his own veins.

  “These aren’t the same adventurers who killed your people, but one of them killed mine. Calm yourselves until… unless I attack.”

  The rest of the players watched on mostly in silence. Hearing only one side of the conversation, they could only question and interject in the small pauses in dialogue, when Beatrice was offering them the translated bits of the conversation.

  Taking in a deep breath, Beatrice replied, “I don’t know about the others, but I came here, faced what we’ve faced, to warn you about the king and his shadow monsters.”

  “You’ve delivered your message. I will face what I need to for my people to survive, and if you aren’t my enemy, then I’ll let you leave. The other burrow lords won’t let you near their cities. The only one a non-goblin could even enter would be mine and it doesn’t exist yet,” Nik said.

  “Wait, you’re one of their leaders?” she asked, eyes squinting in confused thought.

  “Wait, what?” said Sir BlackDagger

  Ignoring him, Nik clenched his fist tighter around his spear. He kept his eyes on Beatrice while he said, “We aren’t going into that now; we aren’t going into anything. You’re all leaving these tunnels for the surface-”

  This time, she interrupted him as she blurted out, “Light, it’s the only thing that makes the shadows vulnerable, and they can control the bodies of fallen friends to fight you.”

  She is very determined to keep talking. I don’t know what the rest of them are doing here, or if they share her goals. I can’t trust them, not after what Sir BlackDagger has done, but that last bit needs some attention, he thought.

  “You still can’t stay down here, the goblins will kill you. You’ve got my attention, though. Tell me what you know,” Nik demanded.

  He could still feel the tension coming from those behind him, like a thread pulled tight, waiting to snap. In fact, both groups were displaying the same behaviors, hands gripped on weapons, glancing from their spokesperson to the one on the other side of the space between them.

  If it comes to it, we’d win a fight, but I won’t risk losing one of my friends needlessly.

  Her eyes actually held some fear in them; her voice pitched lower, and her face grew more solemn when she said, “We fought one of his shadows. We could barely hurt it, and in the end, it ran away when the sun rose. It killed an adventurer… and he didn’t respawn.”

  “You’re giving them too much information, Bea,” Sir BlackDagger spat out.

  “Are you freakin’ kidding me right now? They just saved Addy, if not the rest of us, and they haven’t attacked us. What more do you need, Eric? You already killed everyone he knew once,” she snapped at him. Her eyes went wide as she heard her own words.

  The moment Sir BlackDagger cut in, Nik felt the rage flood through his veins.

  Stay calm, Nik. Keep searching for answers, he told himself as he pictured leaves drifting to the ground.

  “The goblins in the castle used to say that the adventurers came from another world, that Kyraneth is not your home. Is that true?”

  “Yes, that’s true,” she confirmed, nodding her head as she did so.

  At some point in their conversation, her hands had started shaking.

  Nik tilted his head in thought. AdminHarper has a lot of answering to do when we meet, but for now, maybe Beatrice can help. I should also try to relieve some of the tension here before somebody gets nervous and throws something.

  He dropped his spear into his inventory, held up his hand, and asked, “Do you know what an admin is?”

  She almost took a step back in clear surprise, and the slight quivering of her hands grew more intense. She said, “I don’t know how you know the word, but an admin is someone who helps to manage and monitor video games. Like Hallowed Errant Realm Online, the one that brings us here.”

  It might be a big step, but maybe I can trust her, even if I can’t trust the rest of them. I can give a little bit and offer her some information, too.

  “I received a message in the system from an admin. They claimed that this was all their fault, that they would explain everything when they found me. I’m not sure what you know of it. I was only a child when your kind came, but this world existed long before the adventurers arrived to start slaughtering us.”

  Keeping it close to his side, he moved his right hand with two fingers extended, left to right and back. He let the motion calm him and allowed the recently unlocked memory of his tribe to settle to the back of his mind.

  “It’s not just Eric; we’ve all killed enemies that might be like you. And you’re saying that, somehow, our game placed us as invaders to your world, where we kill its people to gain levels and power. You’re telling me that all of us who have ever killed a humanoid enemy actually took a real life?” she asked as the understanding of their situation fully broke over her.

  Before Nik could reply, Beatrice was bent over, hands on her knees as the contents of her stomach were emptied onto the chitin of a slain skitterbug. At her side in an instant, was Doggy, ever steadfast and ready to offer her comfort.

  At a quick movement from Sir BlackDagger, Nik readied himself for any sign of a threat from him. He calmed himself when he saw that the adventurer was only moving to place a hand on his vomiting friend’s back.

  So they are capable of remorse, and sympathy at least, however much that is worth, he thought.

  Sir BlackDagger lifted his head and addressed Nik. “We’re the heroes, that’s part of the point of the game. We’re the heroes who came to fight the dangerous monsters on each tier of the Black Tower. If all of that is a lie…”

  Just the sound of Sir BlackDagger’s voice was enough to force Nik’s breathing to become short and rapid, panic fighting to seep through.

  Nik took in a deep breath, rolled his shoulders to let out some of the tension, and said, “If you were all tricked into your actions, then they might all be on the head of AdminHarper. That still doesn’t mean that I trust you, or that I could forgive your actions. However, I won’t attack you either. Go back to the surface-”

  His words were interrupted by the deep sound of a low humming trill. The sound rang out, interspersed by ear-splitting clicks and heavy, cracking thuds.

  Then came the gritty sound of something being pressed hard, scraping against the stone.

  A sharp gasp behind him showed that at least one member of his lowerguard had the same realization that hit him now. He’d forgotten the second warning about the large insects, after the venom.

  If we find them showing up in numbers, then that means a skitterbug matron is nearby. This is a problem, Nik thought.

  “If you can’t respawn and you want to continue living, then get to the surface,” he said.

  Beatrice replied, “The tunnel behind us was collapsed by another party, they betrayed us to go back and tell the king where to find your trail.”

  “Nik, we need to leave,” said Pearl.

  Quest Received!

  Slay the Matron

  Reward:

  Increased Safety Rating of the Goblin Faction

  Optional Quest Received!

  Defend Your Enemy

  Rewards:

  50 XP per surviving adventurer and 15 copper coins

  Bonus Objective!

  Keep the Entire Party of Adventurers Alive

  Bonus Rewards:

  Receive A Title

  A frustrated sigh escaped from Nik as he closed out the notification and looked toward the darkness of the tunnel.

  “Nik, please do not tell me that you got a quest to stay and fight,” Pearl said, coming down to hover nearer to his side.

  “Friends don’t lie to each other,” he replied.

  Visions of the past filtered through his mind. The image of Wuttsit, replaced by brief flashes of the adventurer on her knees before a cluster of the skitterbugs. Stormclaw warriors, killed by slavers, scattered on the forest floor. Then the memory of an elderly goblin, lying on her back, breathing her last breaths.

  There’s been so much death, so much loss

  He pushed down at the emotions that were actively trying to burn a hole through his chest and turned his head back to Beatrice. The resolve solidified, one heartbeat at a time, until he said, “Give me your word that your friends are worth saving, despite what you’ve all done. That there’s enough value to your lives that we should risk ours for yours.”

  “I can’t, not if everything you said is true. But we’re at the end of our rope, it’s either the path you came from or the incoming danger. Goblins later, or this beast now,” she said.

  Nik closed his eyes, and he could hear a frail rasping voice in his head repeating the words, kindness and strength. With that memory playing through his mind, he knew what his choice had to be.

  “Everyone, gather your weapons, and get ready for a fight! Beatrice, you’re the bridge between me and your people. You follow my orders, and I will treat you as allies for this fight. Understood?”

  “Understood. Thank you, Nik,” she said before turning to her party to quickly explain the situation.

  Looking over to Nik, Sir BlackDagger nodded in a sign of agreement. They each returned their eyes to their own respective groups, to prepare for the battle ahead.

  They could hear it, even as Nik tried to work out his plan; unseen, in the depths of shadow where their lights could not reach, a bulbous mass of muscle and chitin was dragging itself toward her fallen progeny.